EPILOGUE 1 #3
When she unwraps Cooper’s present to reveal a black velvet box, my eyes slit.
The fucker got all flustered and shit when he went into the city’s best jewellery shop and had the quietest, most suspicious conversation with one of the staff members when we followed him in to have a look around ourselves.
Ten minutes later and he’d walked out, gripping the box now before us in his fist with no way for anyone to have the slightest chance to grasp it.
He clears his throat now, hand rubbing over the back of his head as he goes just as red as he did back then when the lid opens up to reveal the box’s contents. “It’s, ah . . .”
Squinting, I lean forwards to get a better look at the necklace Havoc takes from the box.
“Vengeance,” she reads out loud, holding the heart-shaped pendant in the palm of her hand, the long silver chain dangling over its side. When she tilts it, what I now see is some sort of red liquid stored in the 3D shape moves around. Eyes narrowing, her head snaps up. “This is your blood.”
Tiger’s jaw unhinges, and he shoves his face right up to the necklace. “No way.”
“Yeah . . .” Clearing his throat, Cooper gives her a smirk despite his obvious sheepishness. “I heard your thoughts about wanting to keep actual parts of us but not wanting to hurt us. Thought you might like it . . .”
Yet another full, stunning smile takes over our Bonded’s face. “I do.” The way she looks at that blood-filled pendant could almost rival the way I know I always look at her as she runs a finger over the side of it.
His relief is almost tangible, and his nerves from before die down. “Yeah? You like it?”
“I adore it—it is perfect.” Eyes sparkling with wicked glee, she unclasps the necklace and brings it to her neck, and Scotty immediately sweeps her hair up into his hands.
Cooper quickly leans forwards and takes either side of the chain from her with a murmured, “Let me,” and her eyes slit as she visibly debates whether she’d rather be independent or doted on like the queen she is, but ultimately, she doesn’t argue.
I feel my face scrunch into a frown, a pinch of jealousy nipping at me, but these days, it’s never enough to want to bash one of my brothers’ heads in. Why the fuck didn’t I think of this? Fuck, I want Havoc to wear my blood around her neck.
When Cooper pulls back, satisfaction pouring off of him in waves as he takes in our girl with him literally on her chest, her hand wraps around the front of his neck as she yanks him right back in to slam their mouths together.
A muffled grunt leaves him, and his hands jump to her back, pressing their bodies together.
His mouth immediately responds to hers, and they move together with a heat that vibrates the atoms in the air.
Abruptly pulling back, Ezla grins again as she clutches the pendant in her fist.
That grin looks more and more devilish by the second.
Fuck, she’s so damn perfect.
In a daze, Cooper blinks, swollen lips parted before he licks them and shakes his head like he’s trying to wake himself up from a spell.
His hand comes to the back of his neck when he seems to remember something other than Havoc’s sinful mouth exists, and he’s smiling madly to himself, his chin dipped as if that will do anything to hide it from the rest of us, more chuffed than ever as he moves backwards to regain his previous position.
“You ready for mine, Love?” Scotty asks as Cooper sets his backside down on the floor and leans a forearm on his knee.
All of Ezla’s attention zeroes in on him. “Yes,” she says simply, and her outward appearance is schooled in a flash, but I can feel her lingering happiness through the bond.
“Alright.” Now it’s Scotty’s turn to blush. “Let me just go grab the one I want to give you first. We’ve each got you . . . a few things.”
Biggest understatement in history.
“So,” he starts as he picks up one of the presents from the closest couch before heading back over and settling into his previous place, “this one’s . . . kind of inspired by your dagger from the Halfway Ball.”
Eyes lighting with intrigue, Havoc all but snatches the wrapped box from him.
Scotty’s face splits into another wide grin, and I feel my own lips curve upwards. Knew she’d quickly love the idea of us showering her with gifts.
The delight that crashes through from Ezla’s side of the bond would probably knock me off my feet if I weren’t sat down.
Then a near-inaudible woosh of air and a tiny blur of motion shoots past me, just inches from my head.
A thrill zaps down my spine even before a small weapon shaped like an arrowhead buries itself in the back of one of the black leather couches.
Havoc lets out a gleeful laugh, and we all stare at her, utterly enraptured.
“I have seen these before,” she tells us, still smiling as she inspects one of what I now see are hair clips, which, evidently when pressed a certain way, shoot razor-sharp pieces of metal from them.
This must have been one of the things my brothers bought while I was getting my tattoo.
“I have always wanted some, but with everything, I did not think it would be worth getting them. But now I can have many things I could not before.” Turning to Scotty with the hair clip held between her fingertips, she says, “Thank you. I love them very much.”
“I can feel that,” he murmurs, his affection clear in every line of his face. It permeates the room as he cups the side of her head and presses a kiss to her forehead before he says, “Happy birthday, Ezla.”
In response, she gives him one of those dangerous grins of hers before she turns to Alby. “May I have yours, my shy boy?”
Quickly nodding with his ever-large hazel eyes popping out of his red face, he holds out the present in his hands.
Shuffling slightly closer to her on his knees, his voice is almost a whisper.
“Um, I . . . I thought you might like this . . .” His nervousness increases as Ezla takes the large box from him.
“Of course I will—it is from you.” Her tone leaves no room for argument, eyes drilling into him as she silently dares him to disagree.
Smiling shyly, he nods. I can tell he’s immediately calmed by her words as he always is, but his pale fingers still twist together in his lap as he watches her tear the wrapping paper away.
When the box is revealed and Ezla quietly takes the picture on it in, Alby explains nervously, “It—it’s an ice cream machine.
” Cheeks burning hotter, he mumbles, “Uh, obviously you know that.” He clears his throat awkwardly and shakes his head to try and get some of his hair in his face.
“I know you haven’t tried ice cream yet, so, uh, if you don’t like it—”
“I love it,” Ezla cuts him off, and he pauses, blinking. “And I am sure I will love how this tastes. Anything my Bonds give me is precious, and this will be a perfect edition to our new home when it is ready.”
My heart soars at the mention of that again. Our new home. A place made just for us.
I can’t fucking wait.
“I have been wanting to try ice cream as Tiger has mentioned the dessert a few times,” she continues, glancing over at him. “You have made me curious.”
A lazy grin and a hair toss. “I have?” he drawls, batting his lashes.
“Hm.”
Cooper’s lips twitch.
“We will make some together today, yes?” It’s not a request but a demand to us all.